Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport Mysteries) | 
| Author: John Sandford
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $12.50
You Save: $14.45 (54%)
New (26) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $11.14
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 28
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 0399155007
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780399155000
ASIN: 0399155007
Publication Date: May 6, 2008 (New: This Week)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Lucas Davenport has had disturbing cases before but never one quite like this, in the shocking new Prey novel from the #1 New York Timesbestselling author.
John Sandfords most recent Davenport novel, Invisible Prey, was hailed as one of his best books in recent memory (The Washington Post); as fresh and entertaining as ever (Chicago Sun-Times); and rivetingly readable (Richmond Times-Dispatch). But this time, hes got something quite special in store.
A widow comes home to her large house in a wealthy, exclusive suburb to find blood everywhere, no bodyand her collegeaged daughter missing. Shes always known that her daughter ran with a bad bunch. What did she call themGoths? Freaks is more like it, running around with all that makeup and black clothing, listening to that awful music, so attracted to death. And now this.
But the police cant find the girl, alive or dead, and when a second Goth is found slashed to death in Minneapolis, the widow truly panics. Theres someone she knows, a surgeon named Weather Davenport, whose husband is a big deal with the police, and she implores Weather to get him directly involved. Lucas begins to investigate only reluctantlybut then when a third Goth is slashed in what is now looking like a Jackthe- Ripper series of killings, he starts working it hard. The clues dont seem to add up, though. And then theres the young Goth who keeps appearing and disappearing: Who is she? Where does she come from and, more important, where does she vanish to? And why does Lucas keep getting the sneaking suspicion that there is something else going on here . . . something very, very bad indeed?
Filled with his brilliant trademark suspense and some of the most interesting characters in thriller fiction, Phantom Prey is further proof that Sandford is in a class of his own (The Orlando Sentinel).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Sandford's worst yet. May 11, 2008
John Sandford has a gift. His plots are riveting and unexpected. His characters are compellingly flawed. And most noticeable, his dialog is pithy, quick, and "tight". (I'm not a writer, but this is the word that first comes to mind.) Even though I found some of his previous villans to be almost TOO dark for my taste, his books keep me awake and reading.
But this book seems forced. As though Mr. Sandford's publishers are pushing his deadlines. The plot is all Hollywood - shallow, unimaginative, 800% predictable. In fact, I'm a little angry that Mr. Sandford broke my trust. I will buy anything he writes immediately. But fool me once...
In this case, the villan is silly. Our beloved protagonist, Lucas, follows his script by rote. And the plot unfolds over 200 pages just as we might predict after reading the first 20.
But you should NOT dispair. Don't buy this book, but instead, buy ANY OTHER SANDFORD NOVEL that you haven't already read at least twice. While not High Literature, they are deeper and more entertaining than anything else in the category.
 Our "literary crapshooter" John Sandford has rolled a seven instead of snake eyes! May 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Phantom Prey, the 18th novel in Sanford's "Prey" series, marks the return of Lucas Davenport, a state investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. This action-packed yarn of a serial killer roaming loose in the Twin Cities is one of author's best.
When a wealthy widow, Alyssa Austin, returns home and finds blood splattered on the wall, she fears the worst, for her college-age daughter, Frances, is missing. Davenport's wife, Weather, one of Alyssa's friends, persuades him to help find the missing girl.
Four murders occur and the chief suspect is a mysterious, elusive "fairy Goth," a diminutive but athletic young woman who apparently has joined the Goths--people who walk around in dark clothes and have a morbid fascination with darkness and death.
The serial killer is both highly intelligent and a "certified" schizophrenic--a deadly combination. Other than Davenport himself, Sanford has never before created a more fascinating, albeit chilling, character.
The novel contains a lot of foul language, and a sub-plot featuring a low-life hood named Siggy and his paramour Heather gives Sanford an opportunity to indulge in prurient voyeurism.
The good news is that Phantom Prey, featuring snappy dialogue, memorable characters, humorous repartee and bloody carnage, is a page-turner. Our literary crapshooter has rolled a seven instead of snake eyes.
Don't you think it's a little bogus May 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Don't you think it's a little bogus to give a one star rating to a book you have not read merely because the author/publisher has not yet made it available in your preferred format--particularly when the format is one developed by this site in which they might be said to have a special interest? If you are too 'thrifty' to buy a hardcover book at a very nice discount, then you have the option to wait for a year for the Kindle edition (or paperback) or go to the library. Libraries are free and green. When you've read it, your opinion might be interesting. For the record, I'm a fan of Sandford's writing (don't know the man), especially the Lucas Davenport thrillers, and I'd say this is one of the better books in the series. It amazes me that he can keep up the pace.
Not the greatest Sandford novel-I was disappointed May 11, 2008
I have read all of the Sandford/Davenport novels and I have only been disappointed once--that was with "Easy Prey." (Too complicated with all the characters he put in the plot gave me a headache) Now I was disappointed again with Sandford's "Phantom Prey."
I read Sandford because he is humorous, crafty, and quirky and the characters throughout the books have grown on me and I have learned to care about them--especially if you read the Davenport series in order, up to the marriage of Weather and Davenport, the baby Sam and the ward, Letty.
This plot was boring-not the usual substance that Sandford offers his fans.
The book to me wasn't based on the "Goth" sub-society, but about a schizophrenic character that likes to kill and a sub plot that has to do with a pregnant flasher that throughout the entire book is waiting for her drug running boyfriend to travel from Miami to Minnesota to see her and the baby.
I have to admit though that some of the book just made me laugh my head off-I will give it 3 stars for the entertainment quality.
 Another excellent Lucas Davenport police procedural May 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Back for his eighteenth appearance, Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is not only on the job, but in top form.
The main story concerns Alyssa Austin, recently widowed when the airplane carrying her millionaire pilot husband Hunter crashed in Canada, comes home to discover the alarm system of her tony suburban home turned off, but no one in the house. Knowing the housekeeper Helen is gone for the day, Alyssa calls out for her daughter Frances who might be visiting. Alyssa searches the house and finds what turns out to be a small blood stain on the wallpape. The blood belongs to Frances and the police find that more blood has been wiped from the floors.
But there is no corpse.
A sub-plot concerns Lucas Davenport and colleague Del staking out the apartment of the wife of dope dealer, who apparently is immodest of often peels off her top with the shades up. The cops are trying to nab her currently absent drug kingpin husband.
Lucas Davenport is independently wealthy because he developed and sold a software company. He doesn't have to work, but he likes being a cop and solving the really tough cases, which just happens to be what the BCA does. In earlier stories, Sandford spent a lot of time developing Lucas Davenport. This time around, Davenport, married to surgeon Weather, with a young son and adopted teenage daughter is less introspective and more action oriented.
And there is plenty of action. As it turns out, the distraught mother, Alyssa Austin, owns several exclusive fitness centers, knows Weather and asks her to get her husband involved in the case. Reluctantly, Lucas gets involved - just in time for a series of gruesome murders of young Twin Cities "Goths". Frances, the missing daughter, was into the Goth scene.
Sandford is one of the best police procedural writers around today. He doesn't miss a beat in this one. Davenport is a cerebral cop who is constantly dogging a case, wondering how the leads and clues fit together. Almost as an aside, he tracks a money trail through the Goth community as one after another is murdered. Davenport himself comes in for a close call.
It's a taut thriller, with Davenport displaying more than the occasional flash of brilliant inspiration that brings him one step closer to solving the crimes.
The only unfortunate part of the plot is that Davenport relies upon a device he used to great effect in an earlier "Prey" novel, but it doesn't work so well here. Nope, I'm not going to spoil it for you. You'll know when you see it, even if you haven't read the prior Davenport novels.
It's a small thing that doesn't take any pleasure from the reading because John Sanford is simply one of the finest authors of police procedurals in the business. The nice thing about the "Prey" series is that if you start with one, you might be drawn to reading the others. Start with the first and work your way through all of them. They really are excellent reading.
Jerry
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